World War II Axis Military History Day-by-Day: January

January 1

January 1, 1941: Hitler, in his New Year's order of the day to the German
armed forces, promises "...completion, on the Western Front, of the
greatest victory in our history..."

January 1, 1943: German troops of 1. Panzerarmee (von Kleist) in the
Caucasus begin withdrawing from the Terek front to avoid being cut off
by Soviet forces attacking from the northeast toward Rostov-on-Don.

January 1, 1944: Field Marshal Rommel is appointed C-in-C of Heeresgruppe B,
the German forces in France north of the Loire river.

January 2

January 2, 1942: On the central front in Russia, the Red Army achieves a
breakthrough at Rshev.

January 3

January 3, 1944: The US Fifth Army (Clark) begins an offensive against the
German forces in Italy (Kesselring) entrenched in the Gustav Line along
the Rapido river, with its center at Cassino.

January 4

January 4, 1942: The Red Army captures Kaluga SW of Moscow.

January 4, 1944: On the southern front in the Ukraine, Soviet forces cross
the old Polish-Russian border in Volhynia.

January 5

January 5, 1941: The British 8th Army (Wavell) captures Bardia in Cyrenaica,
taking 45,000 Italian prisoners.

January 5, 1942: German forces in the Crimea repulse a Soviet landing at
Eupatoria.

January 6

January 6, 1941: In his annual message to Congress, President Roosevelt
announces the "Four Freedoms". The Luftwaffe launches its first attacks
against British convoys bound for Malta in the Mediterranean.

January 7

No major events on this day.

January 8

January 8, 1942: On the Northern front in Russia, the Red Army begins an
offensive near Lake Ilmen.

January 8, 1943: General Rokossovsky, C-in-C of Don Front, issues a
surrender ultimatum to the troops of 6.Armee, guaranteeing "their lives
and safety, and after the end of the war return to Germany', and
promising that "...medical aid will be given to all wounded, sick and
frost-bitten..."

January 9

January 9, 1943: The Soviet ultimatum to 6.Armee at Stalingrad is ignored by
order of Colonel-General von Paulus, and the battle continues with
unabated ferocity.

January 10

January 10, 1942: Colonel-General Ernst Udet, head of Luftwaffe aircraft
production and development, commits suicide for failure to provide
adequate replacements and new improved aircraft models.

January 10, 1943: After a 55-minute bombardment by thousands of guns and
rocket-launchers, and employing seven armies, the Red Army begins
Operation Ring, the final annihilation of the tattered remnants of
6.Armee defending themselves desperately against all odds in the ruins
of Stalingrad.

January 11

January 11, 1942: The Kriegsmarine begins Operation Drum Beat, the first
coordinated attack carried out by five U-boats initially against US
shipping along the East Coast of the United States. Their first victim
is the 9,000 ton British freighter Cyclops which is sunk by U-123
(Kptlt. Hardegen).

January 11, 1944: 660 heavy bombers of the US 8th Air Force carry out
attacks against industrial targets at Braunschweig, Magdeburg and
Ascherleben.

January 12

January 12, 1943: The Red Army begins an offensive to restore the land
communications with the encircled city of Leningrad. In the East,
Heeeresgruppe A continues its withdrawal from the Caucasus to the Taman
peninsula, i.e. the Kuban bridgehead.

January 12, 1945: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front (Konev) launches an
offensive from its bridgehead across the Vistula at Baranov.

January 13

January 13, 1945: In the East, the Soviet 1st Belorussian Front (Zhukov)
begins an offenive toward Pillkallen in East Prussia. German forces of
Heeresgruppe E complete their withdrawal from Greece and
Albania.

January 14

January 14, 1942: At the so called Arcadia Conerence held in
Washington, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill agree to
concentrate the Allied war effort on the European theater.

January 14, 1943: Beginning of the Casablanca Conference in Morocco with
Rooseelt and Churchill and the Allied joint staff under General Dwight
D. Eisenhauer.

January 14, 1944: South of Leningrad, the Red Army begins an offensive
against the lines of Heeresgruppe Nord (von Küchler) at Narva

January 14, 1945: The Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front (Rokossovsky) begins an
offensive from its Narev bridgehead against Elbing in East Prussia.

January 15, 1943: On the Northern front in Russia, the Red Army captures
Velikije Luki in the Valdai Hills.

January 15, 1944: In Italy, French troops under General Juin capture Monte
Santa Croce.

January 15, 1945: In its drive toward the Oder river, the Red Army captures
Kielce in western Poland.

January 16

January 16, 1945: In the Battle of the Bulge, US and British forces brought
up to block the German advance meet at Houffalize.

January 17

January 17, 1942: The British 8th Army (Auchinlech) captures ollum in
Cyrenaica.

January 17, 1945: The Red Army captures Czenstochova, while German forces
evacuate Warsaw. The German defenders of encircled Budapest withdraw to
Buda on the western bank of the Danube.

January 18

January 18, 1942: In the East, the Red Army encircles seeral German
divisions at Demjansk near Lake Ilmen. In the Crimea, German troops of
Heeresgruppe B recapture Feodosia and seal off the Soviet bridgehead at
Kerch. Germany, Italy and Japan sign a new military treaty.

January 18, 1944: German forces of Heeresgruppe Mitte repel repeated Soviet
attacks in the area of Vitebsk.

January 18, 1945: German troops in Poland evacuate Kracow. Beginning of a
German offensive from Lake Balaton to lift the Soviet siege of
Budapest.

January 19

January 19, 1945: Sweeping the German defenders before it, the Red Army
captures Lodz.

January 20

January 20, 1941: With Hitler's tacit support, Marshal Antonescu suppresses
a rebellion by the Iron Guard in Rumania.

January 20, 1943: The Red Army begins an offensive against Heeresgruppe
Mitte in the Voronesh area.

January 20, 1944: On the Northern front in Russia, the Red Army recaptures
Novgorod. The RAF launches a heavy attack (700 bombers) against
Berlin.

January 21

January 21, 1941: The US informs the Soviet Union that the "moral embargo"
imposed on it after its 1939 attack on Finland no longer applies.

January 21, 1942: Having been reenforced and resupplied, the Afrikakorps
begins a counter-offensive against the British 8th Army to recapture
Cyrenaica. The Luftwaffe, with 400 aircraft available, begins a series
of raids against London and ports in southern England. The US Fifth Army
(Clark) achieves a landing at Anzio and Nettuno south of Rome.

January 22

January 22, 1945: Advancing in East Prussia, the Red Army captures
Insterburg and Allenstein.

January 23

January 23, 1943: Panzerarmee Afrika evacuates Tripoli in Libya.

January 23, 1945: The Kriegsmarine begins the evacuation by sea of
hundreds of thousands of civilian refugees from East Prussia and the
Danzig area, the Red Army having cut all land communications with the rest
of the Reich.

January 24

January 24, 1942: German troops of Heeresgruppe Mitte recapture Suchinitshe
near Kaluga.

January 24, 1943: The offensive by the Soviet Trans-Caucasian Front toward
the Kuban bridgehead is topped at Novorossiisk and Krasnodar.

January 24, 1945: German forces evacuate Slovakia. The Soviet 1st Ukrainian
Front (Konev) captures Oppeln and Gleiwitz in Upper Silesia. Heinrich
Himmler is appointed C-in-C of the newly formed Heeresgruppe Weichsel
(Vistula).

January 25

January 25, 1941: The British 8th Army recaptures Tobruk in Cyrenaica.

January 25, 1943: At Stalingrad, the Red Army succeeds in splitting the
remnants of 6.Armee into a northern and a southern pocket. German forces
evacuate Armavir and Voronesh. President Roosevelt and Prime Miniter
Churchill end the Caablanca Conference with their announcement of the
demand for the unconditional surrender of Germany and Italy.

January 26

January 26, 1942: The first US troops begin arriving in North Africa.

January 26, 1945: The Red Army captures Kattowitz in Upper Silesia.

January 27

January 27, 1944: The Soviet 1st Ukrainian Front launches an offensive
against Luzk and Rovno.

January 27, 1945: German forces evacuate the vital coal mining and
industrial district of Upper Silesia, a heavy loss for the remaining
German war effort.

January 28

January 28, 1941: In Cyrenaica, the Afrikakorps recaptures Benghazi.

January 28, 1944: In the Ukraine, the Red Army succeeds in encircling
several German divisions in the area of Tcherkassy.

January 29

January 29, 1941: In Washington, US and British military leaders begin
secret staff talks regarding coordination of a common war policy against
Germany.

January 29, 1944: 800 bombers of the US 8th Air Force launch heavy attacks
against Frankfurt am Main and Ludwigshafen.

January 30

January 30, 1941: THe British 8th Army (Wavell) captures Derna in Egypt
from the Italians.

January 30, 1945: In its relentless drive for Berlin, the Red Army reaches
the Oder river at Küstrin and establishes several bridgeheads. On
the twelfth anniversary of his coming to power Hitler, in his last speech
to the country, calls for fanatical resistance by soldiers and civilians
and predicts that "...in this struggle for survival it will not be inner
Asia that will conquer, but the people that has defended Europe for
centuries against the onslaughts from the East, the German nation..."
Also on this date, the Wilhelm
Gustloff, an ex-Kraft Durch Freude ship (Strength Through Joy) in the
service of the German Kriegsmarine, is sunk in the Baltic Sea by a
Soviet sub with the loss of over 9,343 lives - the largest single naval
disaster in history (The Goya, another German ship similar to the
Gustloff, would be sunk on April 16th, 1945, taking with it another 6,000
lives, making these two ships the worst naval disasters of all time.)

January 31

January 31, 1943: At Stalingrad, the exhausted troops of 6.Armee in the
southern pocket of the Kessel, with newly promoted Field Marshal von
Paulus, have spent their last rounds and surrender to the Red Army.